Chennai: Government and aided schools in Tamilnadu are witnessing huge demand, with many parents deciding to admit their wards to State-run institutions this year due to the Covid-19 imposed monetary reasons.
Contrary to many private schools which charge a bomb as admission fee, tuition fee, uniform free etc., government schools not just offer free education, but also provide uniform, books and other items free of cost. Even laptops and bicycles are offered to students, besides the nutritious noon meal.
This year, government and aided schools across Tamilnadu have admitted 11.98 lakh students since 17 August. Of them, 8.70 lakh have been admitted to government schools and 3.28 lakh to aided schools for elementary and secondary education.
Meanwhile, the department of school education said in a recent order that attendance is not mandatory for online classes in the state and assignments given to children during such classes will not be part of their final performance evaluation.
The order said students who missed these classes will be taught when schools reopen and brought on a par with others. No student must be compelled to attend these classes, and terms like “shall, should, must, compulsory, will be counted in attendance, grades/marks/evaluation is based on this, etc.” should not be used by teachers.